Quins fans love Europe as ticket sales soar

Harlequins, the club whose Stoop ground used to be likened to the moon - neither had any atmosphere - have had a staggering increase in season ticket sales.

Quins, whose European Shield triumph gave them entry into the lucrative Heineken Cup this season, have sold 3,100 season tickets with three of the five price categories sold out.

The number of season ticket holders is almost double the 1,700 Quins had at the start of last season. The previous campaign, only 700 of these tickets were sold.

Quins have been drawn with Castres, Bridgend and Munster in the group stages of the Heineken Cup to add spice to the early part of the season. Unfortunately, inspirational captain David Wilson will miss the whole of the season after having surgery on the leg he damaged at the end of last term. A new captain will be named shortly.

Quins start the new Zurich Premiership campaign on 1 September at home to former co-tenants London Irish.

They complete their warm-up fixtures against London Welsh at The Stoop on Friday and entry is just £1 with all proceeds going to charity.

The match will mark the return to action of Lions stars Dan Luger and Jason Leonard.

Luger, making his return for Quins after a spell at Saracens, has not played since damaging his eye socket when he collided with Neil Back during training in Sydney in the buildup to the Lions' First Test.

Leonard, who was given a break by Quins after returning from Australia, added two more Test caps to his collection on the tour and is within touching distance of 100 caps for England.

Keith Wood and Will Greenwood, Quins' other Lions squad members, are still to appear at training.

Wood is on honeymoon while Greenwood has been battling to overcome the ankle injury that robbed him of a Test place in Australia.

Mark Mapletoft, who has been dogged by serious injury for the last two seasons, made his first appearance for 11 months against Bedford at the weekend and will play against the Welsh on Friday night.

Meanwhile, the Irish Rugby Union have confirmed the rearranged dates for the postponed Six Nations matches from last season.

Ireland will play Scotland at Murrayfield on 22 September, go to the Millennium Stadium on 13 October to play Wales and then end their campaign the following Saturday against England at Lansdowne Road.